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Rare star 45 EP

HD 81949

RA 141.7222° · Dec -54.3517° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
45 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Supergiant +18
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) +10
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
  • Star +3
Total score 45

5 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Supergiant · +18
  • Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) · +10

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G3/G5Ib — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Far away by human standards, yet still a local address inside the Milky Way's spiral arms.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 6.9 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Vela.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around February — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 34.3 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 3 million years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.

Properties

absmag
-2.026
bv
1.063
constellation
Vel
dist ly
1953.03
luminosity
562.8595
mag
6.86
name
HD 81949
spect
G3/G5Ib

About HD 81949

HD 81949 is a rare star. It lies about 1,953 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Vel, shines at apparent magnitude 6.86 and has spectral type G3/G5Ib.

Its spectrum reads G3/G5Ib — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for HD 81949 in the constellation Vel. At apparent magnitude 6.86, it is an easy target for binoculars.

Like any astronomical target, HD 81949 is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.

Why HD 81949 is a rare star

HD 81949 scores 45 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Sun-like G-type star, Supergiant and Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.